UN peacekeepers killed in DR Congo ambush

Patrol ambushed in an area where government forces are fighting Ugandan rebels, the country's UN mission says.

06 May 2015 01:03 GMT

The MONUSCO base for peacekeepers in the North Kivu province of DR Congo [AFP]

Two United Nations peacekeepers from Tanzania have been killed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) after their patrol was ambushed in an area where government forces are fighting Ugandan rebels, the country's UN mission said.

The peacekeepers were attacked in the village of Kikiki, around 50km north of the town of Beni in North Kivu province, on Tuesday, Felix Basse, a spokesman for the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), told Reuters.

"The ambush took place today, this afternoon ... The death toll is two and we have a couple of injured," he said.

The Congolese army said earlier on Tuesday that it had killed 16 Ugandan Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels during fighting in the same zone over the weekend.

Tuesday's ambush was the second attack on UN forces in the area in 48 hours after a MONUSCO helicopter carrying the mission's military chief was fired upon by unidentified gunmen on Monday.

"I won't tolerate any more of these repeated attacks against blue helmets in Beni territory," Martin Kobler, head of MONUSCO, tweeted following the attack. "MONUSCO will carry out robust offensive operations."

Congolese forces launched an operation early last year against the rebel Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) group, which is accused of massacring some 300 villagers near Beni between October and December. MONUSCO is providing support for the offensive.

Eastern Congo, where a 1998-2003 conflict resulted in millions of deaths, remains plagued by dozens of armed groups that prey on the local population and exploit the region's vast reserves of gold, tin and diamonds.